Claiming
by SALJStella
Summary: Sequal to Big Bad Pirate. And after Jack and Elizabeth are rescued from the Rum Runner's island in said prequal, Elizabeth doesn't want to pretend what happened there ever happened. But do you think Jack will let her go that easy?
1. Prologue: Goddamn Jack

**A/N: ****Hi everyone! This is a sequel to my story Big Bad Pirate. If you haven't read that one, you probably won't get a lot out of this. And keep in mind that this is just the prologue. I promise you the next chapter will be longer. **

**Summary: The Dauntless picks Jack and Elizabeth up. Elizabeth wants to pretend that what happened on the island in Big Bad Pirate never happened, but do you think our favorite pirate captain is going to let her go that easy? Not lightly!**

**Prologue: Goddamn Jack**

- Miss Swann, Norrington says, relieved, when Elizabeth steps up onto the deck and rains seawater on the wood. Such senseless luck that we found you!

Elizabeth smiles awkwardly. But she doesn't look directly at him.

The guilt nags her. Eats her from inside.

- Ain't there any senseless luck that you found me, commodore? Jack asks with a grin when he heaves himself up on the Dauntless himself.

Even though Elizabeth stares stubbornly into the ground she can see in her head how Norrington's lips twitches in a slight disgust.

- Of course, Mr. Sparrow, he says coolly, for I will feel senseless pleasure when I finally can hang you.

- Senseless pleasure? Jack says and shrugs his head like a wet dog. If you think _that's _senseless pleasure you should really find yourself a girl.

Elizabeth shyly lifts her eyes and lays them on Jack.

He's wet. The coal around his eyes is smeared from swimming from the island to the ship, his clothes are stuck to his body and his dripping dreadlocks are messy. And more than anything, he's a _pirate. _

It doesn't matter. He is still the most beautiful thing she's ever seen.

When that thought sails through Elizabeth's mind she can feel how her guilt gets bigger, finds its way down to her heart and squeezes it with a cold hand.

Will.

Oh, God, Will.

If he knew what her and Jack had done on that island he'd never talk to her again. He'd think she was a slut, because she was.

A slut. A goddamn slut.

A slut that had let a pirate touch her, kiss her… Sleep with her.

The cold in Elizabeth's heart turned into darkness. Her guilty anguish turned into hatred.

Hatred against herself. Hatred against the stupid, goddamn island and the stupid, goddamn rum that had changed her like that.

Hatred against Jack who stood a few feet away from her with his hands on his belt and that grin on his face.

Goddamn island.

Goddamn rum.

Goddamn Jack.

She stared at him with her honey eyes turned into slits.

_Goddamn Jack._

_Stupid, goddamn Jack. _

**This is my first no-romantic fic, but as I said… It's still just the prologue (Wink wink) you liked this? Please review! **


	2. Elizabeth's Tears

**A/N: Hello, my darlings! Here's the next chapter. And as I promised, it's longer than the first one. And many thanks to my reviewers! And excuse my crappy grammar. **

**Disclaimer: If I owned Pirates, Will would've died in a much more painful way, and he would DEFINITELY not be immortal!**

**1: Elizabeth's Tears**

- Elizabeth!

Elizabeth startles and looks up on her father. He's the next one to walk up to her with a relived smile on his lips. Elizabeth smiles back, weakly.

Yes. She's weak.

She's weak, she's sad, and she wants to drop down on her bed, at home in Port Royal and cry more than anything else.

No, that's not true. What she wants more than anything, _anything _elseis to drop down on the beach on the island and cry.

The island. The godforsaken island. Her and Jack's island were she'd spent the best month of her life.

And when she had dropped down on the beach, Jack would come and put his arm around her shoulders, whisper sweet nothings with his dark voice in her ear, stroke the hair away from her neck, kiss her exposed skin…

- You are back! Governor Swann says and hugs her tight.

- Yes, Elizabeth says.

She can't think of a better answer. Neither can she hold back a sob.

A sob of despair.

Guilt. Longing.

Governor Swann let go of her. His face goes from relieved back to worried.

- Are you crying?

- No, Elizabeth mumbles and draws her hand over her eyes. It is… The seawater.

She sees Jack in the corner of her eye. Sees how a cloud of worrying runs over his face, too, but he quickly wipes it away.

- You _are _crying! Governor Swann says and caresses her cheek. What is the matter, Elizabeth? Are you not happy we finally found you? You have no idea how much we have searched! Commodore Norrington thought that you would think of a way to send us a signal, we looked for a fire or something… My God, child, what is it?

While he's talking, Elizabeth's tears stops running quietly down her cheeks, and starts to streaming uncontrollably. Now she's standing there, covering her eyes with one hand, her shoulders shaking, her sobs loud and piercing.

Of course, Jack can't keep from meddling.

- You see, governor Swann, he says and walks up next to Elizabeth, this is how shook up she gets just by _thinking_ of me being hanged. You wouldn't want your daughter looking like this when everyone around her was all happy, would you?

He says it like he's joking. But the worrying cloud has come back; it's covering his face once again.

Norrington walks up to Jack. He's even paler than before, and his lips are a thin line.

- Shut _up, _Sparrow, he hisses and grabs Jack by the arm. Did you hurt miss Swann? Because if I see a single hair missing from her head…

Every trace of humor disappears from Jack's face like a lamp that's switched of. All the sudden his eyes go black, his jaw is clenched and his hands turn into fists. Elizabeth stares at him, her eyes wide.

During the time on the island, she's seen him in many different moods. She's seen him dejected, happy, laughing, drunk.

But she has never seen him angry. And she doesn't want to, either. When Jack is hanged, she wants to remember him as the only person that really, _really _understood her.

Not as someone that's staring at Norrington with a look as if he's capable of murder.

- Hell yeah, I did, Jack hisses back and pulls his arm back from Norrington's grip. I've abused her, raped her and if you'd ever have the courage to take her dress of you'd see that both of her boobs have been cut of. Get real!

Governor Swann doesn't seem to realize that he's sarcastic. He gets even paler than Norrington, and then he turns to Elizabeth.

- You are going to a hospital, do you hear me? As soon as we get home, you are going to a hospital, so you will be fine soon enough to see this dreadful man being hanged.

- Come on! Jack angrily starts again, but Elizabeth silent him with a raised hand.

- Father, she says in the calmest way she currently can, I am fine. Jack has not…

- Jack? Norrington interrupts, scoffing. Are we going by each other's _first names _now? Did anything happen on that island that you wish to share with us, miss Swann? As a nice little anecdote?

- Stop it, Elizabeth whimpers and wraps her arms around herself.

She's so cold her teeth are chattering. She's cold from the hopelessness, the sorrow, from being ripped between two worlds that se love.

- _Mr. Sparrow, _she corrects herself, has not done a thing to me. It is quite the opposite; he is the reason I survived. So no he has saved my life _twice. _You cannot hang him!

She pauses before she says, with the hopelessness dripping from her words:

- You _must _not! I am _pleading _you, father!

- Listen to your daughter, governor Swann, Jack interrupts softly.

Governor Swann is staring at Jack, his eyes hard. You can tell he's actually considering it. And it doesn't take long before he slowly opens his mouth and says:

- We shall decide what Mr. Sparrow's punishment shall be when we get back to Port Royal. And until we do, you are not aloud to be closer to my daughter than four meters. Is that clear, Master Pirate?

- Very clear, Jack says, smiling again. I can hold back if I have to.

Governor Swann nods stiffly before he turns to Elizabeth again.

- You look dreadful, Elizabeth.

Elizabeth nods.

- I know, she says, her voice hollow.

She feels dreadful, too.

- Father, she says, can I take a bath? I am exhausted.

- Of course you can, governor Swann says. It seems that you really need that. Do you want me to ask the maid to wash your hair?

- No, Elizabeth whispers. I can do that myself.

She hears Norrington scoff behind her.

- Sparrow probably taught her that on the island. Wash her hair with seawater…

- James! Elizabeth sobs, her eyes spilling over once again. Stop it!

Then she half walks, half runs to the cellar door.

Her bare, wet feet makes splashing noises when they hit the varnished wood. Her shoulders almost reach her ears, her back doesn't have a protection for the attacks that she think will come, but they don't.

But when she slams the cellar door shut and walks down the stairs, it still feels like she escaped in the last minute.

xxxxxxxxxxx

- Can I take a bath, too? Jack asks up on deck. It's been a while… And when you do it with a cute little governor's daughter, it gets twice as fun…

- Didn't I just tell you to shut up? Norrington cuts him off.

Jack stops talking. But he doesn't stop smiling.

- The only thing you will bathe in… Norrington says and spits out every syllable, is your own blood. It does not matter what miss Swann says or what you have done for her. You are still a pirate, and pirates shall be hanged. It is a fact.

He turns to governor Swann, smiling.

- Right, governor Swann?

Governor Swann doesn't bother answering. He just walks up right next to Jack, his finger raised, menacing.

- Tell me the truth, Sparrow: Have you even _touched _my daughter during this month?

Elizabeth was lucky she walked down to he bathroom a few moments earlier, because if she hadn't liked seeing Jack angry before, she would hate to see him now.

Jack's face turns pale beneath his tan, his eyes turns into slits and he grits his teeth like an angry dog. And he grabs governor Swann's finger, slowly bends it back until the older man is on his knees.

And while he's doing this, he hisses calmly:

- I'm a pirate. I steal, I plunder and kill, and I've pretended to be a priest of the English church once.

And then he knees down in front of governor Swann, and mumbles the next sentence, almost lovingly, in his ear.

- But I. Don't. Dishonor. Young. Women. No pirate does. And if you ever ask me that question again I'll do so dishonoring things to your daughter that you'd drop down dead if you found out about it.

And when he has said that, he gets up, let go of the finger he's holding, and turns to Norrington, mocking a politely questioning look.

- Very well, then, commodore Norrington. Where be the nice brig you'll keep me in?

**I don't know if baths had been invented in the pirate age, but who cares. And by the way, see that cute blue button just below? It says review, and you know you want to! **


	3. Hunger

**A/N: Hello, my darlings! ****Here's the second chapter. I thought it would be short and awful, but it turned out… okay, I guess, and pretty long. Enjoy!**

**2: Hunger**

Elizabeth is still shaking from the cold when she walks down the stairs to the cellar.

How can she be so awfully cold? It's almost too hot, for Gods sake!

But deep down inside, she knows why she's cold.

Deep down inside, she recognizes the cold, the tiredness and the burning eyes from when her mom died.

This is sorrow.

It's sorrow that's so overwhelmingly big that she just wants to die.

Jack is about to be hanged.

She knows it's about a day of traveling from here to Port Royal.

And when they get there, Jack's going to be put in a cell, and he's going to sit there for about a day. Then he's going to be taken out of there, he's going to be put on a platform and that god-awful noose is going to dangle back and forth in front of him.

Then they're going to do a long speech about all the crimes he has done.

Like existing.

Like being the pirate he is, into his very soul. She knows that he is, even though she's only known him for a month.

And then a hangman will put the noose around his neck. And tighten it until Jack coughs and says with mock politeness: "Would you mind stop doing that, mate?"

Yes. Jack will joke. He will smile; he'll find humor in everything until he draws his last breath.

But sooner or later the hangman will walk up to the lever that controls the door in the platform that Jack stands on.

He'll pull it.

Jack will fall trough the door.

Then it will sound "Twang!" when the rope turns into a straight line. And Jack's body will spasm, his eyes will roll over and turn white. He'll be dead soon.

And Elizabeth will watch.

She will stand next to her father, and she will be dressed in a beautiful dress. And she will look relieved. As if she's thinking that "Thank God, one step closer to have a pirate-free universe", when she's really dying inside.

Her father has always insisted on Elizabeth being there when pirates are executed. He thinks it will force the ideas of pirates being exciting out of her head. But that plan has never worked.

How could she possibly think that it would be good when pirates were killed now?! Even when she had just read of pirates, her insides always turned into a knot when she saw the poor men desperately pulling the rope around their necks. But now, when she'd tasted how wonderful the world of piracy really is…

And when Jack is dead, the hangman will take his sword, his gun and his boots. Throw his heavy, lifeless body onto a pile of other pirates. Other ones who has had the guts to stand up for who they are.

Elizabeth barely notices that she's crying when she pulls her soaking wet dress over her head.

They can't kill Jack. The month on the island, to be alone with him, the rum and the burning Caribbean sun, is the best thing that ever happened to her. It was the first time in her life that she felt that she didn't have to fake at all. That she could be… Herself, and only herself. In Port Royal she is happy, and she doesn't fake a _lot. _But when she's with Jack, she doesn't have to be a cocky, yet affected young lady wearing a corset. She can really let her full, true self come out.

The bathtub at "The Dauntless" is not really a bathtub. It's just a pretty large pod that stands on a large hotplate. And even though the water is so hot that the steam is standing from the pod like a pillar of heat, Elizabeth shivers so much that her teeth are chattering when she steps into it.

She lifts up the scoop that lies next to the pod, fills it with warm water and let it pour down on her. The goose bumps on her pale skin fade away a little.

_When I was drunk, _she can't help from thinking, even though she swore that she wouldn't think of that island again. _When I was drunk, I was never pale. Then my face was all red. _

_The face that Jack kissed. _

_I was never pale. And I was never sad. I was never cold, and if I was, Jack was there, and he could warm me up. He would put his arms around me, put my head on his shoulder, let his warm breath pour down my neck…_

Elizabeth's tears are mixing with the running water when she can't keep from thinking of one of the best nights she and Jack had on the island. Their island.

When she can't keep from thinking of Jack.

_- What about this one, Elizabeth says and takes a bite of the roasted fish. Would you rather… Stop being a pirate all together, or… Be married to Barbossa for the rest of your life? _

_Jack chuckles. _

_- Married to Barbossa, definitely, he then says. _

_He's already eaten all of his fish. Now he picks up the bones of one of them and gnaws on it impatiently. _

_- If I was married to Barbossa, Jack says in a muffled voice, I would actually be quite pleased with it. I would still kill him as soon as he got his veil off. _

_Elizabeth has to put her hand over her mouth to keep the mouthful of fish inside it. Her shoulders shake with laughter. _

_But when she'd swallowed the food she turns to the sea, and her bubbling joy turns into a nauseous-like guilt. _

_How can she?!_

_How can she sit here, laughing and be happy with a pirate, a pirate that she's slept with way too many times, when Will is in life-threatening danger?!_

_When Will might already be dead? _

_Just that thought makes Elizabeth move her hand up to her eyes, makes her shoulder shake with sobs instead of laughter. _

_Jack's smile disappears, too. He looks at her with concern. _

_- What is it, love? _

_- Jack, Elizabeth sobs. Will…_

_Jack places two fingers under her chin and forces her gently to look at him. Then he moves his hands so he can wipe her tears away with his thumbs. _

_- Listen to me, he says firmly. I'm still fully convinced that bloody Norrington's going to find us. And when he does, I'm sure he'll be more than happy to go and find your little fool. _

_Elizabeth gives him an angry look. _

_- Don't call him that. _

_Jack smiles. But instead of answering, he says:_

_- And when you find him you can challenge Barbossa. An honest fight between pirates. _

_Elizabeth's eyes turn from angry to surprised. _

_- Jack, I'm not a pirate. I'm almost the exact opposite; I'm a governor's daughter. _

_Jack's smile gets wider. Like he knows something that she doesn't. Then he leans forward and steals one of her roasted fishes. _

_- No, he says and buries his teeth in the golden-brown, crispy skin. You're a pirate. _

_Elizabeth frowns. _

_- No, she repeats patiently, a governor's daughter. _

_Jack's smile doesn't go away. But it has changed. It's less of a grin, more of a… Touched smile… He leans forward and strokes a loose strand of hair out of her eyes. The sudden tenderness surprises Elizabeth, and she can't keep from close her eyes for a brief second._

_While her eyes are still closed, she feels Jack put his hand on her cheek and kiss her forehead. _

_When she opens them again, Jack is sitting again. He's looking at her with even more tenderness, almost love, in his eyes. _

_- No, he says in a low voice. _

_Intense voice. As if he really wants her to value his words. _

_- Pirate. _

_Elizabeth wants to answer with something that shakes his foundation, like he did to her, but she can't think of anything. She doesn't even dare to look at him, she feels opened up and vulnerable._

_But the magic is broken. When Elizabeth finally dares to look at Jack, he doesn't even look back. Instead, he looks at her three remaining fishes with longing. Elizabeth laughs again._

_- What are you looking at?!_

_- Can I have one of those? Jack asks pleadingly. _

_Elizabeth smiles playfully. _

_- Hungry? _

_- Aye, Jack says, a little annoyed. I almost _wish _Norrington's going to find me and hang me. In heaven, I'd probably get to eat._

_Then he chuckles. _

_- The only problem's that I'd never end up there. _

_- Yes, you would, Elizabeth says matter-of-factly. _

_- Not if the Big Guy and the Devil wouldn't switch places, Jack says, smiling. _

_- You would, Elizabeth repeats, her voice determined. You're a good man, Jack. _

_None of them speaks for a while._

_- And even if I would go up there, Jack says and points to the sky to smooth over how serious their conversation has gotten, I'm sure one of Norrington's soldiers would be there, too. And I can say with certainty, love, that he would steal all my food. So I guess I'll be starving for a while._

_Elizabeth turns to him. Then she grabs his braided beard and pulls his face close to hers. _

_- Am I not enough to satisfy your hunger? She breathes against his lips. _

_Jack doesn't answer right away, but he smiles and cups her cheek once again. _

_- When it comes to that kind of hunger, indeedy you are, he says, his voice low. _

_When their lips jerk together and they roll down in the sand, Jack wraps his arms around her. _

_Now he doesn't hope for Norrington to find him anymore. Not even if he was joking when he said it. _

_Because all the sudden he's terrified, _terrified, _that he'll never feel Elizabeth again. _

_Never feel her tiny body underneath him, her hands that are searching, looking, tries to find a place on him that stays still, a place that's real enough for her to hold him. Hold him long enough for them to get full of each other, for them to stop feeling so awfully hungry when they roll around together, united on an island that, right now, is just one burning point of longing. _

When Elizabeth forces herself back to the real world she cries so much that she's shaking. And she doesn't open her eyes.

_Jack, _she thinks. _Why did you do this to me, why did you let me taste how wonderful lust is? _

That's the only thing she manages to think.

Then she hears the voice.

- Don't leave me all alone with your scary family, love.

He's here.

**Cliffhanger… What is Jack to do? And our poor little Elizabeth? Review, and I might tell you, because I already know… Hehe… **


	4. If I'm Only Dreaming

**A/N: YAY! Claiming is back with the third chapter, to brighten the spirit of Jengarola, QueenOfSparrabeth, eternallyerik's, Wicked R and everyone else that liked this, and didn't review. To be honest, I'm not that big on this chapter. But I guess that's up to you guys…**

**3: If I'm only dreaming **

Elizabeth spins around, startled even though she recognizes the voice and the words.

Yes. In the corner of the room, Jack stands, with his crooked smile. Triumphing smile.

- Jack! Elizabeth shrieks. How did you get down here?

Jack's smile gets wider while he walks up to her.

- You see, love, he says smugly, you'd bee surprised to know how _stupid _your cute little Norrington really is.

Elizabeth lowers her eyes. Silently.

She doesn't want him to be here. If he's here, it will just be harder for her to watch him die.

It's easier this way. Sure, that month on the island was nice, but it's nothing to get hooked on. She can forget about it. Jack's not her freedom, god, he's a _pirate!_

Because she needs freedom. She has to have freedom. If she spends another day like a caged bird, she will die.

No, now she's falling into it again, now she thinks about how his gold-capped teeth sparkles in the sun, she thinks about how he throws his head back takes a swig from his bottle of rum, she thinks of his lips…

She loves Will. Will only. She needs freedom, and Will is freedom. He's a blacksmith. And honestly, how much would father like the fact that she's in love with a blacksmith?

- Now you're leaving me again, Jack teases.

Elizabeth looks up at him. He's in front of her, way too close for her to pretend that he's not there.

And when he put his hands on her hips and approaches her mouth, it gets even harder.

Jack's lips just manage to brush over Elizabeth's before she turns her head away.

- Jack, she says firmly.

The playfulness in Jack's eyes goes away. Gets replaced with something else, something annoyed. Almost menacing.

- Jack, Elizabeth repeats and tries to keep the tears away from her voice. I think that the best thing… For you, too… If we pretend that thing on the island… Never happened.

She manages to turn his face to him. He's so awfully close; she can feel his warm breath on her face.

How can breath on your face be so unbelievably urging?

What is he doing to her?! How can he make her whole body ache for him just by being near?

Much to her surprise, the menacing thing disappears from Jack's eyes immediately. The playfulness is back, and his eyes are alarmingly smoldering.

- So _that's _what this is about, he says in a low voice. You don't want our beloved governor to find out, do you?

- No! Elizabeth says helplessly. Father and… Everyone else. Will!

- Ah, Jack says against her lips. If that's the problem… We've got no problems, Lizzie.

Elizabeth scoffs and becomes painfully aware of something:

She's naked. How the hell could she forget that?!

She quickly crosses her arms over her chest. Jack's smile returns, and he grabs her wrists and pulls her arms apart.

- That's pointless, Lizzie, he says and captures her hands between his own. You seem to forget all those countless times I've seen you naked.

Elizabeth blushes and yanks her hands to get them back. She's tired of being Jack's property, of feeling so disgustingly dependent on him.

- Let go of my hands! She hisses angrily.

Yes. She's angry. But she still can't keep her head from being heavy and blurred with want.

Jack's smile turns into a challenging smirk. And he does let go of her hands, but _his _hands keep wandering over her body.

Elizabeth loves Will. She does.

But she can't think of that when Jack's hand slides across her wet stomach and gets planted on her back, pulls her closer, the water on her skin leaves dark marks on his clothes.

Jack's eyes are dark, too, almost black, darkened and intense with lust, and his breathing is fast and hard. But even though his mouth is mere inches away from hers, he doesn't kiss her. Instead he says quietly:

- Will's the problem? Is that why you've gotten so up-tightened, love?

- Mm, Elizabeth whimpers and closes her eyes.

If she close her eyes, he might not be as attracting. If she closes her eyes, he might go away. If she makes this all a dream, _a brilliant, awful dream, _this will be easier for her.

- 'Cause you love him, Jack mumbles and brushes the hair away from her neck. You love him, don't you?

- Yes, I do, Elizabeth says softly. Jack…

- What, Elizabeth? Jack whispers and breathes warmly on her earlobe.

- Jack, Elizabeth repeats and subconsciously wraps her arms around his neck, pulls him closer. You're making this too hard… For me… And I love Will, you know I love Will!

- Elizabeth, Jack says and locks her eyes. I've already told you that's not a problem.

- But… Elizabeth says.

Jack cuts her off with his mouth on hers. He kisses her more and… _Bigger _than he ever has before, and Elizabeth gets washed away, she drowns in his mouth and her own wants, and she loses herself for a brief second, but get enough toehold back to pull her face away from his.

Jack doesn't fight back. He just look at her exultingly, a says calmly:

- That you love Will is not a problem… Since it doesn't take me more than five seconds to make you forget him all together.

And then he starts to kiss her already wet neck.

- Jack.

Elizabeth wanted it to come out angry and snapping, like when he came in. but the tremble in her voice still displays her arousal. And it doesn't matter anyway, because Jack wont let her go.

Elizabeth wants to keep thinking that she loves Will, but she just manages to think one thing:

_Will would never do this. _

_Never ever. _

_Will wouldn't take liberties like these. _

_If I told him to stop kissing me, he would. He would never kiss my neck, he would stick to the mouth, and he would barely have the guts to move his hands…_

_Will wouldn't make me forget about my morals, he wouldn't… _

She manages to block those thoughts out of the top of her head. But they're still in the back and they eat away at her inside, even when she can think that she doesn't like Jack's raspy lips against her skin.

That's what she's thinking. That's what her head says.

But her body.

God, her body!

Her body doesn't listen. Not at all.

Her body trembles, pulses, writhes and wriggles under his touch and claws his back, there's too much desire between them, too much in Jack that's attracting, too much…

Her body arches into him, no matter what her head says.

- Jack! Elizabeth hisses all the sudden.

Now old Elizabeth is back. Prudish Elizabeth.

Fake-Elizabeth.

And fake-Elizabeth grabs Jack by his dreadlocks and pulls his head back far enough to look him firmly in his eyes.

- Stop it, she says strictly. It's over. Do you understand? _Over. _What happened on the island never happened.

- The island? Jack says, faking a questioning look. Oh, the _island! _

He tears her hands away from his hair and moves his face dreadfully close to hers again.

- You mean the island where I got you screaming my name… he says, his voice low. The island where I got you drunk, and got you on your back on a beach? Is that the island we're discussing?

Elizabeth puts all her focus on not jerking her lips forward and let him have her. She can't, she loves Will, she _can't!_

- Yes, that island, she says with almost no quivering in her voice. But that never happened. Okay?

Jack doesn't smile anymore. But he doesn't look annoyed, either. Instead, he gets even closer and mumbles against her lips:

- Fine. I'll go.

Pause.

- But I expect to see you in the brig tonight.

Elizabeth has to bite her lip to keep from cry out in mental anguish. She still hates Jack for what he did to her. Or, what he… Made her _want _to do. It's amazing how she can hate him and still want him so much that the feeling vibrated in every cell of her body.

_This is when you're alive, _she thinks. _I've never been alive before. _

_This is when you _feel _alive. _

_It's when one single feeling washes over you, running through you, and the feeling is so overwhelmingly powerful. It's when all you can think about is the _want. _The _got to.

_I got to grab Jack by his shoulders and press his face against mine. _

_And I _want _to. More than I've ever wanted anything else in my life. _

Jack doesn't even wait for an answer. He knows she'll be there.

So he goes away. But not before he quickly kisses her lips, her jaw line, her collarbone, her breast and let go of her hips. Then he flashes her one last grin.

_Then_ he goes away.

And Elizabeth is left behind, alone in a bathtub, shaking.

She can't go there. She must not.

But someway, on some level, she knows she will do it anyway.

**Not as much of a cliffhanger as the last chapter, but still a little bit, right? And if you just by an accident happen to send me a review, I'll get a lot more excited about updating!**


	5. Torture

**A/N: Okay, beloved readers, I have two excuses for the long update: **

**1. My crappy computer crashed, and… We shouldn't discuss how I reacted to that.**

**2. I had a fight with my family (cross your heart and answer this question: What use do you have of parents? They say they want what's best for you, but in reality they just want to see you suffer… I'm on to them…) **

**Anyway, since I was still mad when I wrote this, it might not be my best work. But that's not really up to me, is it?**

**4: Torture**

_It wasn't supposed to be this way. _

_That's all she manages to think. _

_When she lost her virginity, it wasn't supposed to be this way. _

_When she lost her virginity, it was going to be her wedding night. It would be in her own queen bed, the moonlight would shine through the big windows and give her room a brilliant glow. And there would be lavender-scented candles in the room, and the smell would be like a third person with them. _

_It would be with Will. He would kiss her soft and gently, he would be a little nervous, and I would feel calm and safe and right. _

"_Are you sure?" He would whisper. _

_She would nod. _

_Then it would be over. She would be pregnant, since sex isn't supposed to be delightful, and she would live in Port Royal for the rest of her life and raise her son. _

_Of course it would be her son. That her first-born child would be anything but a boy was not an option. _

_By the way, it could really be anything. When she lost her virginity it could be with her father. Even that would be more right than this. _

_Everything that is now, everything that's so awfully real and true, wasn't supposed to be. _

_When she lost her virginity, it wouldn't be on a beach. She wouldn't be drunk, there wouldn't be sand sticking to her back. She wouldn't be with a man that turned her inside out with his mere kisses, he wouldn't kiss her neck, his rough hand wouldn't sneak into her opened dress. Her head wouldn't spin and throb with desire, she wouldn't cling on to him, almost desperately. _

_It wouldn't be with a pirate._

_It wouldn't feel wrong and so insanely right in the same time. _

_It wasn't supposed to be this way, but it still is. She's in the sand, she squirms uncontrollably, but Jack's hands are planted on her hips, keeps her here, with him. _

_And it feels wrong. Awfully wrong. And exciting. _

_Unavoidable. _

_The word pops up in Elizabeth's head. And she knows it's true. _

_Even if she wanted to, she can't go back now. They've reached the point of no return and they've passed it. _

_Jack's hands slips into her dress again. Elizabeth's hands are tangled in his dreadlocks and press his face closer to hers. She wants more of him. Wants him closer. _

_It wasn't supposed to be this way. _

_Will's hands would be unsure and searching, they would be soft. _

_But they're not Will's hands. They're Jack's. It's Jack's hands on her body, all over her body, and they're not unsure. Not at all. They're almost violent when they pull the dress away from her shoulders, exposes her upper body._

_When he glances over her, Elizabeth goes scared. _

_Scared of not looking good enough. _

_But in Jack's eyes, she can only see desire. No uncertainty, definitively no repulse. And before he kisses her again, he buries his nose in her hair, his whisper is hot and tickling and slurred against her ear. _

"_I want you."_

_Those three words. _

_Just those three words makes Elizabeth feel more important than she ever has before. _

_Will loves her. Adores her. _

_Jack wants her. _

'_Adore' is little hearts and roses, it's love, it's… Sort of beautiful. _

'_Want' is raw and lustful, it's a feeling that's stronger than anything else when you roll around on a beach with a pirate. _

_It's when something that's wrong and unfaithful, something that's immoral and dangerous to the last, all the sudden turns right. _

_So right. _

_Like a moth to a flame. _

_New words come out of nothing, into her head. _

_This is going to kill her. Jack is a pirate, he can even _easily_ kill her. Especially now, when she's totally in someone else's mercy, for the first time in her life._

_It will kill her. But she can't stop now. _

_Elizabeth lets a smell whimper escape between her lips. No other torture can feel this good. _

_This has to be torture. When your skin is all hot, and it's not from the sun, or the rum, or the fire, it's from a pirate's almost chewing lips against your neck. _

"_I want you, too." She mumbles. _

_That's all she can say. All the words have floated away from her. _

_Jack looks up. During the upcoming month she will learn how to recognize his crooked smile, what it means when his eyes are playful and black at the same time. But now, it's still foreign to her. _

_Jack loves to tease. It doesn't take her long to figure that out. Because his hands are lingering, caressing, _torturing.

_He strokes her cheek, almost lovingly. _

"_That's bold words from an innocent little girl." He says mockingly. _

"_You're the one to talk." Elizabeth says. "You're the one who's violating a young woman here."_

"_Quiet time, Lizzie" Jack says and closes his mouth over hers again. "Scream my name, or say nothing. I'll be nice to you, but just because it's your first time. The next time, I'll be teasing a lot more."_

_Elizabeth opens her mouth to say it's not going to be a next time, but Jack's tongue is still in it, and then there's a jolt of sharp pain. _

_It's sill torture. But not in the same way anymore._

_To Elizabeth it's torture not to be in control. To, even if it's only for a night, be totally depending on someone else. _

_But in the same time, it's wonderful to wish that Jack won't ever let her go. Wish that this feeling never ends. _

Elizabeth wakes up.

The feeling of torture, of impatiens, of invincible arousal, is still there, and it's so real that it takes a little while for her to realize that she's not on a beach. Jack's not on top of her.

She's in her depressing, empty cabin, and she's all alone. Jack's in the brig. And when they reach Port Royal, he'll be hanged.

Why does she even care? She loves Will, and she has been since she was ten and pulled him out of the water.

Elizabeth rolls over on her back and puts her hands over her eyes. Presses them. Hard. It hurts.

Plus, there's no use in it. When she takes her hands away. The world is still there, her problems are there, and stupid, sexy Jack is sitting in the brig and occupies her mind.

Elizabeth sighs and sits up.

_Okay, Jack. You win. I know when I'm defeated. _

She takes the burning candle that's standing on her nightstand, gets up and starts to walk down to the brig.

**So, there it is. I'm not good at writing when I'm angry, and I know that, but you're welcome to review and tell me what I should change. Merry almost-christmas!**


	6. The Last Time

**A/N: ARGH! Christmas really is exhausting! Especially if you have a giant family you have to buy presents to… Anyway, sorry for the long update. **

**This chapter is a plotbunny-production. I've wanted to write this since I first started to write this thing. It didn't turn out as good as I wanted, but still pretty nice, if I do say so myself. **

**5: The Last Time**

The whole Dauntless is asleep.

An entire ship is completely quiet.

That's how it would have been. If it wasn't for Elizabeth Swann's padding steps.

The night is black. Heavy and piercing.

_The night of sorrow, _Elizabeth thinks as she stands out on deck and looks at the dinghies that rock back and forth in the open air.

She's right. It is the night of sorrow. The night of the last time.

It's the last night she'll spend with Jack.

She's figured it out. She won't let Jack die, so she's thought up a plan.

And while she looks at the dinghies, she runs the plan through her head. She knows exactly how to do it.

She nods.

Yes. That's how it should be.

xxxxxxxxxxx

He is the first thing she sees when she reaches the brig.

Jack is on his back on the cold wooden-floor. His arms are folded under his head, his chest is slowly rising and falling. His triangle hat is covering his eyes, and there's no doubt he's asleep.

It's cold below decks. Elizabeth shivers and wraps her arms around herself, but she's been cold all day, she's getting used to it.

But despite the cold, the darkness, the emptiness and the raw, screaming despair that roams in her chest, she can't keep from smiling.

She feels such a big tenderness for Jack right now. She doesn't feel any passion, no longing, she just feels like she's watching a sleeping child. She wants to sit down next to him and kiss his cheek.

She's seen him like this so many times. She's seen him lying like this on a beach, _their _beach, so many times, she's seen his sleepy smile when she laid down next to him and sneaked one hand inside his shirt.

But this is the last time.

"You would sleep through you own hanging, Jack," she says softly.

Jack startles when he hears her voice, but he doesn't lift his hat. She can still swear she sees a smile creep upon his lips, though.

"I'd just assume they'd wake me."

Elizabeth unlocks the door to the brig. He dad has given her a key. Probably he didn't expect her to do things like this with it.

"What is on your chest, darling?" Jack asks and sits up.

"Jack," Elizabeth says and closes the door behind her, "I just wanted you to know… Tomorrow, before father and James wakes up, I'm going to give you one of the dinghies to escape in. I won't let you be hanged."

Jack lifts up his hat and glares at her.

"Is that so? And may I ask why you don't do it tonight?"

Elizabeth sits down next to him. Why is it always her that has to be nervous at times like this?

It's always like this. She's sitting and she's so nervous that it's a miracle that she's not shaking, and Jack is next to her, stoically calm!

"Because…" She begins.

_You know why, Jack. Don't do this. I want you, one last time, but I start to wonder if that is a good idea. _

God, he hasn't done a thing. But nonetheless, he tenderness she felt for him is already replaced by…

No, not replaced. It has been _mixed _with the thing she usually feels for him.

The tenderness is still there, but now it's mixed with that pricking, tearing longing.

Elizabeth realizes this with fear.

_It's not just about sex anymore. It's more. It's bigger. _

Jack doesn't wait for her answer. He just smiles.

"So as from tomorrow, I'll never see you again?" He asks, his voice low.

Elizabeth just gulps and shudders. She hates what he does to her, hates how she loses her moral and her sense when he merely touches her.

"Then we better make this night count, don't we?" He mumbles and moves his hand up to her neck.

_No, _Elizabeth thinks. _You're hard enough to forget already, Jack. And for make it possible to me to go back to my life in Port Royal and pretend that everything is like it always were, I have to go now. _

So she gets up and walks, determined, to the door.

Her entire soul screams for her to turn around, but she keeps walking.

She hasn't listened to her soul for all her life. She can do it now as well.

That's what she thinks, at least. But she doesn't really have the time to react before she hers a frustrated growl behind her.

She's not sure how it happened. But all the sudden Jack has grabbed her by the waist and pushed her into a corner, and now he stands like a wall behind her and the cold, captures her in the warmth and the lust.

"You think I'll let you go?" He says quietly against her lips. "Don't be an idiot, Lizzie."

"But Jack…" Elizabeth says.

"You can stop talking back right now," Jack continues, almost angrily, "or I can rape you and by that brake a promise I gave your beloved father. Your choice."

"You're making this too hard for me, Jack," Elizabeth says and meets his gaze firmly.

"You've already said that," Jack says.

Then he grabs her hips and pulls her closer.

"But I know what you want, that's a remaining fact. So it really doesn't matter what you say."

Elizabeth smiles weakly and wraps her arms around his neck.

She won't pretend this time.

She hates that Jack has so much control over her. She hates that when she's with him, it doesn't mater that she knows what's best for her. Because no matter what she thinks, her body doesn't listen.

But she has never, ever loved to hate something this much before.

"You don't have to rape me," she murmurs and closes her eyes.

"Damn it," Jack says, and even though she can't quite see in the darkness, she knows his eyes are all black again. "That would've been much more fun."

Then their faces are pushed together again.

From the outside, this looks like all the other times they've slept together.

It's like it usually is. Maybe a little slower. They don't long for each other as much as they normally do. They know that the other one will always be there.

Because they will never forget each other.

Jack will never forget how Elizabeth whimpers and buries her nails in his back.

Elizabeth will never forget how Jack pulls her nightgown over her head and plants one hand on her breast before he kisses her again.

And they will meet again. They think this is the last time. But it's not.

And yet, this time is different from the others.

As Elizabeth already said, the other times, it was just about sex. About their own pleasure.

But now, it's about dependence.

It's about that Elizabeth, on some level, knows that she needs Jack. Because he is her freedom. Will's not.

It's about that she doesn't want to let him go.

And the last thing that's different could never been seen from the outside.

But all the sudden, Elizabeth thinks the thought that she's feared since the first time she slept with Jack:

_He has to know that I'm depending on him. That's what he takes advantage of now. _

_He has to know what he's doing to me now._

_You know, don't you, Jack? You should know that you're not touching me now. _

_You're not touching me, you're not kissing me, you're not swallowing my moans and whispering my name into my mouth. _

_You're _claiming _me. _

Yes. That's true. She can feel it.

She's not her own anymore. She's _his. _And that's what claiming is, isn't it?

That Jack, just by doing this, suddenly owns her?

That by every brush of his fingertips, by every kiss on her neck, she becomes less and less in her own control and more and more in his.

And when she finally falls asleep, snuggled up against his chest and with his arms around her, she's exhausted, heartbroken, sweaty and possessed.

**Keep in mind, I'm sick when I'm writing this. Reviews can make me good again! Happy… Eleventh December!**


	7. Epilogue: Tearing Apart

**A/N: Here it is: The last chapter of Claiming! **

**I want to thank my reviewers, I love you all very dearly. Thanks for sticking with me through the entire story. I didn't think anyone would like it. It pains me to leave it, but both Jack and Elizabeth get along better without me now. And by the way, Jack might be a little OOC. But honestly, capturing the spirit of captain Jack Sparrow isn't a piece of cake!**

**Epilogue: Tearing Apart**

Jack doesn't do the least bit of effort to walk silently, even though it's just about an hour until Norrington will wake up. Elizabeth, on the other hand, pads behind him, cowering and quiet, her arms wrapped around herself.

That's the very difference between them.

Elizabeth is balled up, she's supposed to be seen, not heard, she's supposed to be sweet and cooperative.

Jack walks tall, with his swinging walk, the walk he's proud of. Jack is proud of his weirdness, of his permanent drunkenness. Of the pirate he is.

That's the difference between them, and Elizabeth wants to get rid of it.

Now, Jack is going away. He will vanish in the humid, Caribbean morning air with one of the dinghies, and Elizabeth will try to come up with a good lie to her father about how Jack could escape without breaking the lock to the brig.

Jack is going away, and he's taking her heart with him.

But even though Jack is leaving, and seeing him go away will be the most painful thing Elizabeth has ever experienced, she will never regret that she fainted when Norrington proposed to her.

She will never regret her meeting with Jack. Because Jack taught her what freedom really is.

Freedom isn't to not do what other people want you to do.

Freedom is to go your own way. To do what ever you want, to fulfill your dreams, and don't care if they break a law, or if they bring a life of danger. If they involve a life as a pirate.

Elizabeth isn't free now. Not anymore.

But she will be.

She doesn't know, but one day, in a couple of years, she will go her own way, and she will be free.

Jack and Elizabeth are at the rail. Jack looks at the dinghy that hangs in the open air. He doesn't have a worrying cloud over his face. But there is a cloud, Elizabeth can tell that.

Jack moves his gaze over to her. And his brows furrows in an almost annoyed way.

"Are you afraid of something, Lizzie?" He asks.

Elizabeth looks at him, surprised. Damn, is it tears that make her eyes feel all scary and wet?

Jack grabs her arms that are crossed over her stomach and pushes them down. Kind of like the way he did in the bathroom.

"Stretch up your pretty self," Jack says.

Elizabeth smiles weakly. The tears can't fall, they can't!

When Jack has pushed her arms aside, he only lets go of one of them. The other one he lifts up, traces the inside of her arm with his lips without actually kissing her, until he reaches the thin skin on the inside of her wrist, where her pulse throbs twice as fast as usual just by having him near. Then, he kisses her there, his scratchy moustache tickling her arm.

Then he looks at her. His eyes are black, but not in the same way they were when they made love.

"Elizabeth," he says, in a very serious way for being himself. "You know I won't let you be, right?"

Elizabeth nods, still smiling. She's understood that. Jack takes what ever he wants. And he wants her. He's the first one that ever has, and maybe that's why it feels like someone is slowly tearing the heart out of her chest.

"I'll come into Port Royal once a year," Jack continues and moves his hands to her waist, leans his forehead against hers. "And if you want to get kidnapped by a big bad pirate while I'm there, I'll do it."

Elizabeth nods again. She's known Jack for a month, it's not supposed to feel like this when you're separated after a month!

"And meanwhile," Jack says, "I want you to think about me. If Will ever gets the guts to touch you, I want you to think about me. That you think about that you squirmed around like a bloody little worm every time _I _touched you. Can you do that?"

Elizabeth nods once more. She knows that if she says anything, her voice will crack, but she does anyway.

"I love you."

Jack sends her a crooked smile, even though she sees something that looks like pure sorrow in his eyes. Then he puts both hands around her face and kisses her, greatly, hungrily, deeply, before he lets her go and swings himself into the dinghy.

Elizabeth looks at him as long as she can after she heaved him down with mechanical movements, she even looks for him when the boat has turned into a dot that slowly fades away.

Then she allows herself to drop down on her knees onto the deck, her hands covering her face, and cry until she can barely breath.

Jack's body heat is gone.

The Caribbean has never been colder than it is now.

**There it is… A completed fic! Thank you all, beloved readers, for taking your time to read this. Love you all. Please review, and I'll give you a cookie. See you!**


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